Posts in Leveling up
Imagine you’re on stage with 3 of your heroes

Most of us think too small, including myself.

It’s not about getting more likes on your next tweet. Or describing your niche. Or introducing yourself at a networking event.

Those are short-term and micro. Personal credibility is about your body of work and legacy in your chosen field. How will your field be different after you, because of you?

When you have the answer to that macro question, ironically, you’ll write better tweets, confidently describe your work, and introduce yourself with more clarity.

Here’s an exercise to help you reset, carve out your legacy, and start thinking bigger.

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Leveling up, Personal credibilityWes KaoLeveling up, Personal credibility
My favorite interview questions for end-to-end marketing candidates

This is Part III of a series focused on hiring and building marketing teams. Previous posts were about ignoring interviewing rules and how to interview marketing candidates quickly and carefully.

Interviews are artificial situations. Everyone is on their best behavior and arrives wearing a good, thick layer of armor.

I don’t care how you are on your best day. I want to know how you are on MOST days. Your goal, as an interviewer and hiring manager, is to get to the truth. You want to know how the candidate behaves and performs on a daily basis. 

That’s the version of them you’ll spend the most time with, so that’s the version of the person you want to know. 

The questions below are a start. It’s your job to read between the lines for both what’s said and unsaid. This active posture will help you get a holistic sense of the candidate’s approach, intent, skill set, and attitude.

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Leadership and Management, Leveling upWes KaoLeveling up, Leadership and Management
Ignore these interviewing rules

This is Part II of a series focused on hiring and building marketing teams. Other posts are about how to interview marketing candidates quickly and carefully and my favorite interview questions for marketing candidates.

Some interviewing best practices seem written in stone.

They’re so common, and we’ve all done it this way for so long, it’s just the way interviews are done. But in my experience, some of these rules are not as useful if you have limited time or bandwidth.

So with that said, here are rules you have permission to ignore—and new frameworks that may better serve you.

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Leveling up, Leadership and ManagementWes KaoLeveling up
What didn’t exist before you built it?

Building isn't just for code or designs or products.

We need to shift our definition of who gets to say they build.

There are lots of people who build, but their output is less visible. Maybe it’s because their work is upstream. For example, a marketer thinks about how a promotional campaign would work, but a designer actually designs the creatives.

The marketer who built the plan is still a builder. The campaign wouldn’t exist without that person making sure each piece makes sense.

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Leveling upWes KaoLeveling up
How to give better advice: “What kind of feedback would be most helpful?”

“So, what do you think? I’d love to get your feedback.”

A friend showed me their project.

They were in the brainstorming phase, so I tore it apart. I mean, really tore it apart. I listed reasons why it wouldn’t work, why the logic was flawed, why there wouldn’t be market demand.

I waited for them to thank me for the brilliant advice.

The only problem?

They weren’t in the brainstorming phase. They had already spent three months working on it and was finally ready to ship.

Yikes.

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Leveling upWes KaoLeveling up
How to on-board yourself when you join a new team

Many companies don’t have a formal on-boarding process. It’s rare to get 3-4 weeks to just absorb and meet your cross-functional team members.

You might have time for that at a bigger company. But at a growing company or smaller organization, there’s no such luxury. If you wait to have information handed to you on a silver platter, it won’t happen.

The reason you were brought on in the first place is because the team is stretched for bandwidth with their existing responsibilities. They probably couldn’t wait any longer to bring someone on, which is why they hired you.

You’ll be expected to contribute starting your first week. So how do you set yourself up for success?

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Leveling up, High performing teamsWes KaoLeveling up, High performing teams, On-boarding, Management
Build your personal credibility, not your personal brand

I hate the phrase “personal branding.”

Remember school projects? There was always that one kid who didn’t do much work, but was great at presenting. The teacher thought they did all the work. Personal branding reminds me of that person, now all grown up–and still talking their way through life. Ugh.

Most of us are not good at “personal branding.” A lot of good people are too busy actually doing the work to spend energy managing the optics of that work.

Unfortunately, this means well-deserving people often get the least credit.

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Leveling upWes KaoLeveling up
Give your boss context when you ask for approval

“Can you give the greenlight on this?”

“Can you approve next week’s social media post?”

“Can I get an approval on this Facebook ad creative?”

Depending on your role, you might ask your boss for approval once to several times a day.

Even directors and vice presidents need to check in with their bosses. And if you’re creating anything new, it makes sense to get your boss’ buy-in each step of the way.

We can’t force our bosses to approve our work, but we can embrace that it’s our responsibility to get better at securing their greenlight.

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Leveling upWes KaoLeveling up